title: Assessment of wheelchair driving performance in a virtual reality-based simulator.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To develop a virtual reality (VR)-based simulator that can assist clinicians in performing standardized wheelchair driving assessments.
  
  
  METHODS
  A completely within-subjects repeated measures design.
  
  
  METHODS
  Participants drove their wheelchairs along a virtual driving circuit modeled after the Power Mobility Road Test (PMRT) and in a hallway with decreasing width. The virtual simulator was displayed on computer screen and VR screens and participants interacted with it using a set of instrumented rollers and a wheelchair joystick. Driving performances of participants were estimated and compared using quantitative metrics from the simulator. Qualitative ratings from two experienced clinicians were used to estimate intra- and inter-rater reliability.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Ten regular wheelchair users (seven men, three women; mean age ± SD, 39.5 ± 15.39 years) participated. The virtual PMRT scores from the two clinicians show high inter-rater reliability (78-90%) and high intra-rater reliability (71-90%) for all test conditions. More research is required to explore user preferences and effectiveness of the two control methods (rollers and mathematical model) and the display screens.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The virtual driving simulator seems to be a promising tool for wheelchair driving assessment that clinicians can use to supplement their real-world evaluations.
authors.affiliation: VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System, Pittsburgh, PA 15206, USA.
authors.forename: Harshal P
authors.initials: HP
authors.lastname: Mahajan
authors.forename: Brad E
authors.initials: BE
authors.lastname: Dicianno
authors.forename: Rory A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Cooper
authors.forename: Dan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Ding
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001334:Automobile Driving; D005260:Female; D006787:Hospitals, Veterans; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009048:Motor Skills / Q000502:physiology*; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D014584:User-Computer Interface; D014910:Wheelchairs; D055815:Young Adult